Firstly, you’ve got to immediately question whether the Boston Bruins are playing a clever game to circumvent the salary cap or make David Backes a more appealing trade piece.
Equally though, we should look at it at face value and see that a team will only place a player on injured reserve if they’re truly injured.
Heck, look at the Joffrey Lupul situation in Toronto a few years back where the player argued he was fit enough to play and the team had forced him to fail his medical – we don’t think the Boston Bruins organisation are that sort of group as to try to circumvent the rules in such a manner.